620 Kilometers Above Rhea
Explanation:
What does the surface of Saturn's moon Rhea look like?
To help find out, the robot
Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting
Saturn
was directed to fly right past the second largest moon of the
gas giant planet late last month.
Pictured above
is an image taken only 620 kilometers above
Rhea's icy surface,
spanning about 90 kilometers.
The rim of an old crater crosses the middle of the image, with many smaller and younger
craters scattered throughout.
A
linear depression
-- possibly a
tectonic fault -- is visible toward the right, crossing the likely loose
material that composes Rhea's surface
regolith.
The origins of many features on
Rhea
are currently
unexplained and being
researched.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
